Time for another quick check at what’s being said about Hawaii in recent mainland news reports. It looks like the aquarium fish fight got the most play in mainland media.
Here’s a sampling from a morning search.
New York Times, “A Disregarded Request From a Beloved Senator Shakes Up Hawaii’s Primary”
To add to the intrigue, President Obama, who grew up in Honolulu, has made a rare intervention in a Democratic primary. He has endorsed Mr. Schatz, who supported him in the 2008 Democratic presidential contest; Ms. Hanabusa and Mr. Inouye backed Hillary Rodham Clinton. As a result, the primary vote is shaping up as test of clout between a living president and a dead senator.
Seattle Times, “Hawaii at center of fight over aquarium fish”
Activists have launched a campaign to shut down the buying and selling of fish for aquariums, saying the practice from Hawaii to the Philippines is destroying coral reefs.
“In this day and age, where the ocean faces a crisis … there’s absolutely no justification for a fishery for hobby,” said Mike Long of Seattle-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which is spearheading the campaign.
A coalition of fishermen, state regulators and even local environmentalists say the group should focus its attention elsewhere, noting comprehensive aquarium fishery regulations and scientific research that shows fish stocks there are rebounding.
“We don’t have a problem here anymore,” said Tina Owens of the local environmental group Lost Fish Coalition.
New York Times, “Honolulu Shores Up Tourism With Crackdown on Homeless”
“It is generally true in sunshine tourist states that there is a war going on between tourism and development versus helping the homeless,” said Michael Stoops, director of community organizing for the National Coalition for the Homeless.
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But the stakes here are particularly high because the Hawaiian economy is so dependent on tourism. Mr. Caldwell said he had received letters from tourists complaining about run-ins with homeless people, and had responded with notes asking them to give the city another chance.
Boston Globe, “Hawaii stirs sense of wonder, offers of adventure”
To tell you the truth, I never much cared about visiting Hawaii. It’s so far away. It’s so expensive. For tropical beaches, the Caribbean is closer and cheaper. No, I’ve preferred to put my limited travel budget toward more exotic places with different cultures. Hawaii is so . . . American.
But then a couple of things happened. I saw “The Descendants” and fell in love with the gorgeous setting and music, not to mention George Clooney (again). And my sister and her husband had arranged a time-share on the island of Kauai: Would we like to meet them there with a free place to stay?
In late March, after an endless Boston winter, my husband and I arrived in Hawaii for about 10 days, the first few spent by ourselves on Maui. It didn’t take long to figure out that my preconceptions were misconceptions. Where else in America can you visit a foreign culture? (Please, no Jersey jokes.)
U.S. Dept. of Defense, “Dempsey in Hawaii to Meet Japanese, South Korean Counterparts”
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will hold trilateral talks with his Japanese and Korean counterparts during a short trip to Hawaii.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey will meet with South Korean Navy Adm. Choi Yun-hee and Japanese Air Defense Force Gen. Shigeru Iwasaki.
The chairman will also meet with U.S. Pacific Command’s commander, Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear, and the U.S. commander in Korea, Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, as well as component commanders.
He will also speak at the Honolulu International Forum.
Pacific Daily News, “Hawaii VA is lacking in transparency”
I challenge Gibson and Wayne Pfeffer, director of the VA system in Hawaii, to be transparent to Guam’s veterans and public and provide immediate information on access to quality health care at Guam’s VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic.
Currently, the VA’s bi-monthly transparency wait time report is lumped under the Hawaii overall wait time. Guam’s CBOC is under the Hawaii command and the report doesn’t show the wait time for Guam veterans.
Guam veterans and the public shouldn’t have to beg for the report. Where’s the transparency? If there’s no transparency, how can trust be institutionalized?
Like Dr. W. Edwards Deming once said, “In God we trust; all others bring data.”
nj.com, “Westfield woman who died on Hawaii vacation was ‘wonderful person,’ husband says”
A resident of Westfield for the past 15 years, Alexa Digiorgio lived in town with her husband and two young daughters, Amanda and Christina. She worked as a partner with Deloitte & Touche. Before that, she was chief operating officer at Aberdeen Asset Management.
“She was very accomplished,” Marc said about his wife, who was also co-owner with him of an IHOP restaurant in Neptune. Alexa was also a member of the Neptune Lions Club.
SFGate.com, “Couple try to be first to row from Monterey to Hawaii”
“People have done things like this,” said Ray Dean, rowing commissioner of the San Francisco Dolphin Club. “I don’t think it’s crazy, but it is an aggressive challenge. They will have to deal with weather, navigation, exhaustion, sleep deprivation and each other. The mental strain is hard to imagine. It’s like living locked in your car and you can’t get out.
“It’s a little boat in a very big ocean.”
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Rightwingers used to try to portray Senator Inouye as some sort of shogun or emperor of Hawaii Democratic politics, relying upon a not so subtle racist slander that Hawaii AJA voters are too feudalist in their thinking, or trapped in a pre-modern “plantation mentality” which made them ill-prepared for participation in a modern democracy.
I do not believe Senator Inouye saw himself in that way. Nor did I read his “dying wish” letter as a royal decree. I saw it as part advice and part a fulfillment of an obligation to a protege, Rep. Hanabusa. I doubt Inouye himself would have felt it created an obligation upon Governor Abercrombie.
So I am alternately amused and angered when I see the opportunistic way the Hanabusa Team are trying to use Inouye’s letter as a weapon against Abercrombie and Schatz. It is as insulting to Inouye as anything the stereotypical Republican middle-aged haole might have said to a buddy over a beer. It is now Team Hanabusa who seek to portray AJA voters as feudalistic in their attitude towards Inouye when they accuse the Governor of “defying” or “disrespecting” the Senator for not treating his letter as a command from a dying king.
Inouye was never handed his influence on a silver platter nor did he think he could bequeath his power onto a designated heir. Stop pretending that was the way he thought about himself. Every insinuation against the Governor on this basis should be seen for what it is: an insult to Inouye, a cheapening of his memory and an insult to the voters. Knock it off.
I can understand the NYT adopting an “Orientalist” framework in trying to decipher Hawaii politics. Let’s not sink to that level ourselves.
Inouye might not have been handed everything on a silver platter as you described it. Yet, that didn’t stop him from making a similar insinuation in 2008 about the Hawaii-born Obama. In trying to secure support for Hillary Clinton (Inouye’s “choice” for the 44th Prez.) before the state Democratic caucus, the late senator described Obama’s alma mater (Punahou) as “not a school for the impoverished.” Obama, stung by this attempt to portray him as an elitist, responded that his attendance at Punahou was made possible through a scholarship.
Clearly, Inouye himself wasn’t above using stereotypes about “rich, silver-spoon fed” Punahou grads in an attempt to stir up populist sentiment against Obama. While similar tactics may have worked in toppling many GOP office holders in the historic 1954 territorial election, it didn’t succeed for Inouye 54 years later in getting Hawaii to support Hillary.
I don’t know how Inouye viewed himself in the big scheme of things. DC powerbroker or humble public servant. Kingmaker or one equal voice among many in the local Democratic ranks. People can decide for themselves. But only the most naive person would believe that Senator Dan himself was oblivious to the weight and political cache that his influence and endorsements carried.
“But only the most naive person would believe that Senator Dan himself was oblivious to the weight and political cache that his influence and endorsements carried” — which is why his letter to the Governor was confidential! He made his preferences known, but not publicly. It was is staff, who didn’t want to be out of a job, who released the letter.
On another topic, it’s interesting that there was no mainland news coverage of the pesticide companies suing Kauai and the Big Island Councils to prevent them from banning pesticide spraying near schools and requiring labeling of GMOs.